Chris' Story
by TalkingStick
Summary: After having disappeared for a long time, Chris' friend Erin reappears. But something's different about her. When she vanishes again, Chris decided to look for her. What he discovers will change his life... that Mobius might actually exist...
1. Chapter 1: Reappearance

**Author's Note:** _Chris' Story started as a collab between myself and a friend. As a Sonic the Hegehog fanfic based off of the Archie Comics continuity, this story gets pretty bad later on, what with plot holes, cliché elements and questionable characterization (it never gets horrendous, though). But I had fun writing it, and that's all I wished to do. So, without further ado, here's Chris' Story._

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**Chris' Story**

Chapter 1

_August 3__rd__ 2009 – Calaway Park, Alberta – 4:54 PM_

"Here's your prize, kid," I said as I handed a plush doll to the eleven-year-old boy who managed to win the plinko game.

"Yay!" he cheered as he grabbed the stuffed dolphin and hugged it practically to death. His father smiled and held the boy's hand as the two walked off cheerfully; Just two loving family members having a fun day at the theme-park.

Not me. I smiled at the father-and-son walking off in the distance, and then went back to grumbling like I usually do. "God, this job sucks," I muttered.

My name is Chris Derreson. I'm just an average teenager trying to work a part-time job at an amusement park to make some cash. After the horrible conditions from the previous year working at the Calgary Stampede (my city's annual week-long attraction) working as a park greeter, I wanted to stay as far away from that job as possible. To be fair, this new occupation as a game-worker wasn't nearly as bad as last year's, but it was still incredibly repetitive and boring. I was just glad my shift was almost over. Honestly, there just wasn't much that really made me happy these days.

I sighed and took a photo out of my pocket, despite the fact that I knew very well it would only make my mood worse. I looked at the photograph like I had done many times before; two teenagers sitting down at a table in a pizza restaurant, smiling at the camera. The person on the left was me; despite the picture being more than a year old, I still had the same messy chestnut hair and greenish-hazel eyes, and I was wearing my favourite hockey jersey. The picture also revealed that I wore braces back then.

The person on the right was what I was focusing on; a teenage girl, almost a year younger than I was. She also had chestnut hair that was tied back in a ponytail, and was wearing a pair of glasses that covered her brownish eyes. A huge smile was plastered across her wide face; like me, she used to have braces, but hers were gone shortly after, as well. As I held the photo, I couldn't stop staring at this girl.

Erin Bruce.

Erin and I had met back in junior high school, and we steadily became good friends. Of course, we had our differences; although we were both on the nerdy side, I was the kind of guy who liked firearms and violence, usually kept to myself, and preferred the more "black and white" subjects like math or science (I still am, actually). Erin was more social than I, was more into the "artsy" subjects like LA and plain old art, and she was also a huge fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. To this day, I still honestly believe she was discretely trying to convert me into a fan, as well (I wouldn't have even known that a comic existed if not for her).

Last December, right after her 16th birthday party even, Erin disappeared; Vanished completely without a trace. Her mother went hysterical, and despite the efforts of the police and everyone who knew her, myself included, we never even came close to finding her. If it wasn't for her mother's persistence, the cops probably would've given up long ago, and even now there are only a couple still on the case.

I put the photo back in my pocket because my eyes were starting to water. I still couldn't believe something like this could actually happen, let alone to a friend I cared deeply about. _Erin_, I thought, _what happened to you?_

I shook my head and tried to clear these thoughts. My shift was almost over, and I was planning on taking the bus home to see if my friend Jason could hook me up with some more rifle ammo. As I casually looked out of my booth into the park, I saw crowds of people all around; there were people leaving the park, people just coming in, people heading to the more thrill-ride populated side, people entering the gift-shops, people everywhere.

That's when I saw it; a group of about twelve people were walking on the bridge separating the games area and the log flume. By the way things looked, only a couple of them were actually together; the rest were just travelling in the same direction. For some reason, the group had caught my eye. I examined the group more closely when suddenly… no, it couldn't be!

Erin?

There was a girl in the group, about sixteen. She wasn't looking at any of the others, but I saw her head turn, and even from afar, I could pick off that she had a pony tail and was wearing glasses.

I shook my head again. _Who am I kidding?_ I thought to myself. On several occasions over the past two-thirds of a year, I thought I had seen Erin multiple times; they always turned out to be false-alarms.

_But still,_ I suddenly thought, _I've just got this… gut-feeling. I gotta check it out._ I looked at my watch and cursed; I still had four minutes left on my shift. If I factored in that time with how long it would take me to change out of my work uniform, I'd probably lose all sight of her.

I looked back up at the girl, and sighed with relief; she was getting in line for the log flume. _Good_, I thought. _That means I have at least twenty minutes to get over there. Still, I should probably get changed as quickly as possible, just in case._ I placed an "out to lunch" sign over my stall, and quickly scurried off to the employees' change-room.

I was fully changed into my casual wear about ten minutes later, and I quickly scurried off to find that girl I saw. I just _had_ to see if it was Erin. When I arrived at the log flume, I didn't bother searching through the queue; she would've at least gotten to the indoors part of the queue by now. Instead, I looked at the logs in action on the ride; she would show up on one of them eventually.

After about three minutes, I saw another log come around the corner, and I saw her; I still couldn't tell if it was Erin, but it was definitely the same girl. I stared at the log as it was carried up the hill, went though a short water-way, and then finally came splashing down a minute later.

As the splash started to part, I stared even closer; I would be able to get a good look at her at this distance. As the splash fully parted, I moaned in disappointment; it wasn't Erin. This girl's face was too long, and her hair was black, not chestnut.

I turned around, planning on buying a sno-cone before I left, when I accidentally bumped into someone. "Oh, jeez!" I cried, and I heard her yell in surprise, too. "I am so sorry about…" I started, when finally I got a good look at the person's face. "Erin?"

She looked back up at me with those same glass-covered eyes I hadn't seen in months, and she recognized me, too. "Chris!" Erin replied in surprise. "Um, hi…"

We just stared at each other for a good ten seconds, and suddenly, something in me snapped, and I reached out and squeezed Erin around the middle with a hug.

"Ow!" Erin yelled. "Geez, someone missed me. This is the fifth death-hug I've gotten today."

I finally let go of her after about a minute. I started sputtering concerns and questions uncontrollably. "E-E-Erin," I stammered. "I can't believe this! What happened? Are you okay? Where were you? And…" I paused and took another look at her. On her right arm was some sort of mechanical device that gave it the appearance of looking like a robot's. "What the hell is that thing?"

Erin looked at me uncomfortably, and then casually glanced down at the device on her arm while twitching her fingers. "Um, I'd rather not say," she told me.

"What do you mean you'd rather not say?" I almost yelled back at her. Great; Here I was, ecstatic that a friend who had been missing for months had suddenly reappeared, and now I was this close to actually yelling. "You've been gone for more than half a year, and you just think people will accept if you don't tell them _anything_?"

Erin looked around nervously, and then an expression appeared on her face that told me all too well she was thinking something over. Finally she said, "Come with me," and started to pull me out of the crowd.

"Ow!" I yelled as I bumped into a huge crowd. "Where are we going?" I asked her.

"Getting someplace private," Erin answered without looking back. I continued slamming into people as she kept pulling me.

Eventually, she had dragged me into a tight alley section between a couple of buildings. "Alright, Chris, listen," Erin started to explain. "What I'm about to tell you, you can't tell ANYONE. And even then, I can't tell you the entire story, anyways."

"Why not?" I asked. "Why can't I tell anyone and why can't you tell me everything?"

Erin sighed. "Because it's really private and creepy, and you probably wouldn't believe it, anyways," she explained. "Now listen; you see this thing on my arm?" She showed me the mechanical device again.

"Yes," I answered, staring at it.

"It's called a chaos dampener," she told me.

"Oh, okay," I responded. Then I shook my head and said, "Wait, what?"

Erin sighed again and pulled off the device, the "chaos dampener", whatever that was. The moment it was off, an aqua blue aura erupted from her bare arm like flames. The brightness of it was almost enough to blind me, although I was able to see that her fingers on that hand were closer to claws.

Erin reattached the "chaos dampener" thingy to her arm, and I could feel my eye twitch involuntarily. "You know what?" I suddenly blurted. "On second thought, I don't want to know everything."

"Long story short, I was experimented on by a mad scientist," Erin told me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you were right about me not believing everything," I commented. "I'd have trouble believing the abridged version if you hadn't shown me… that."

"That's not all," Erin said darkly, as she turned around and lifted up her shirt, revealing her back.

"Oh!" I suddenly yelled, and I cringed simultaneously. Her back was covered with bloody wounds and scrapes. They looked old and had the appearance that they were starting to heal over, but they still looked painful. "Ouchies," I commented.

"Yeah, that's what whipping will do to a person," Erin commented quietly as she put her shirt back down.

"Does, uh… anyone else know about this?" I asked nervously.

"Just my parents," Erin admitted. "No one else knows."

_My God,_ I thought._ Erin's back, but… by what she's telling me, she's gone through hell. I mean, she looks the same… mostly, but she barely sounds like she used to. What, a mad scientist experimented on her? If that's true, I don't think I want to be around much…_

"Chris?" Erin suddenly spoke up.

"Huh?" I suddenly snapped back to attention.

"You okay?" Erin asked.

"Oh, I'm fine," I responded. "Just thinking… and just relieved that you're back in one piece… more or less." Erin chuckled slightly at that comment. Finally, I said, "Well, would you like to go on the roller coaster before we head home?"

Erin grinned. "Hell yeah!" she replied.

"Then let's go!" I chanted, and we rushed off to the towering thrill ride.

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**Closing notes:** _Yeah, nothing real fanfic-ish happens in this chapter. That stuff comes at about chapter 3. But it's a decent way to start, I think._

_**I NEED CRITICISM!**_


	2. Chapter 2: Determination

**A/N**: _Uh, yeah. Chapter 2. Enjoy..._

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Chapter 2

_July 29__th__ 2010 – Chris' House, Calgary, Alberta – 2: 33 PM_

_Today is the greatest,_

_Today is the greatest, day,_

_Today is the greatest_

_Day that I have ever really known._

I shut off my iPod stereo as the song came to an end. _Ah, Smashing Pumpkins,_ I thought. _What better way to make yourself feel better than by listening to some of the most depressing lyrics you've ever heard?_

I continued browsing through the internet, with about three pages open like I normally do: deviantART, my e-mail, which I was closing soon, and… the Archie Sonic Comics wiki for some reason. I guess I was starting to be converted into a fan; basically trying to research the continuity of the series.

At that point, I had switched to my e-mail and logged out, and then I went back to the Sonic wiki. The page open was a biography for a character named Dr. Finitevus, an albino echidna who had gone mad and evil after absorbing a large amount of chaos energy, or something like that. I basically just skimmed over the page. Besides, his appearance was kind of disturbing…

I closed both remaining pages, closed my laptop, and lied down back on my bed. _Gee,_ I thought to myself, _it sure is boring around here._

You see, even though I was happy that Erin had come back a year ago, it seemed like we weren't as close as we used to be. Besides whatever had happened to her arm, she seemed to have become colder and less cheerful while she was gone. Not only that, but she often still seemed tired and frustrated, and I rarely saw her any more, apart from at school.

_You know,_ I thought, _I really _haven't_ seen Erin in a while. Maybe I'll give her a call, see if she's in the mood to do something._ I leapt from my bed and walked out of the room to the phone in the TV room. I grabbed it and quickly dialled Erin's number, walking back into my room as I sat on my bed and stuck the phone up to my ear.

After several rings, the phone picked up. "H-hello?" a voice answered. I knew that voice; it was Erin's mother. And judging by her voice, she seemed to be on the brink of tears. I heard her sniffle as she spoke, "Chris? Is that you?"

"Mrs. Bruce?" I asked. "Is something wrong?"

She sniffled again before she said, "E-Erin's gone."

"WHAT?" I yelled, jumping up from my seat.

"I w-woke up this morning, and s-she was gone," Mrs. Bruce continued.

I tried my best not to panic. I mean, Erin was gone _again_? What the hell was going on? "Mrs. Bruce, are you sure that she left no clue as to where she could've gone?"

"W-well," she began, but then she paused for a second before continuing, "no, she didn't. There was no note, no anything. And she was still so injured from last time…"

"God dammit," I muttered to myself. "Alright, listen to me Mrs. Bruce," I told her. "I need you to stay calm. You're probably already on top of this, but you need to contact the authorities this instant, see if anyone can help find her. Meanwhile, I'll be looking for her myself. Alright?"

"A-alright," Erin's mother agreed. "I already contacted the police, and they said they'll do everything they can. I-I can also ask some friends to help look."

"That's good," I commented. "I'll see if I'll be able to track her down somehow. Don't worry too much, Mrs. Bruce; we'll get to the bottom of this."

"O-okay," she replied, but she didn't sound too convinced.

I hung up the phone and just stared at the ground for several minutes. Finally, I said, "I've had enough of this shit," and searched for my travel backpack.

A few minutes later, I was packing my backpack with spare clothes, soap, rations, my iPod, that sort of thing. As I was packing, I thought to myself, _I can't believe this. Erin suddenly disappears, reappears months later with a fucked up arm and a cold attitude, and then disappears AGAIN? She told me later that she was more or less kidnapped the last time. Was she kidnapped again? And if so, why?_

I glanced at my dresser when something caught my eye. I temporarily stopped my packing and went to see it; it was the same photo of me and Erin. I picked it up and studied it for a second, and then closed my eyes and stuck the picture into my pocket. _My God, Erin,_ I thought to myself, _what's happened to you?_

I noticed a silver briefcase lying in the corner of my room. I casually walked over to it, picked it up, placed it on my bed, and then started to unlock it. _There's just one thing I know for sure,_ I thought; _If Erin was kidnapped or hurt in anyway…_ I opened the briefcase to reveal my prized rifle, complete with sniper scope, balance, and ammo. I smiled as I finished my thought;

_...Chris Derreson is going to kick some ass._

"Excuse me, sir, have you seen this girl?"

"Hmmm… nope. I'm sorry, kid."

I sighed for the umpteenth time that week. "Sorry for bothering you," I said, and I walked away.

It had been a week since I started to look for Erin. I didn't actually leave home until five days ago, when I was pretty much given no choice. I had already run out of rations once, and restocking had taken a huge hit out of funds. Still, I wasn't going to give up now. I had to find something leading to Erin sooner or later.

Unfortunately, not a single person I had asked had ever even seen Erin before. That's usually not a good sign. Still, I pressed on, one teenager carrying a huge backpack and an illegal weapon while hungry, dirty, and incredibly lonely.

I knew I was in a part of the city I didn't come to often; I don't often go downtown, and it was right across the river. Actually, this might be a good thing; Erin had once told me that she was often at someplace in the outskirts of downtown near the river, and I was certain I was close to that place.

I saw another person walking by. I shrugged and decided I'd ask him, too, before calling my parents, telling them about my lack of success again, and giving up for the day while trying to find a place to sleep.

"Excuse me, sir," I asked the man walking by, "but have you, perchance, seen this girl?" I showed him the picture of Erin and me.

The man studied Erin in the photo closely, and then suddenly said, "Yeah, I think I have."

I shook my head with shock. "Really?" I asked excitedly. "Where and how long ago?"

"It was about a week back," the man explained to me while handing the photograph back. "I passed her in the street around here, and because she seemed like she was in a hurry, I stopped and watched where she was heading. I saw her walk into that tunnel over there." He pointed at a tunnel off the street in the distance. "I wasn't in a huge hurry, so I watched that tunnel for ten minutes. She didn't come out."

I wasn't sure whether to be overjoyed, disappointed, or horrified at this news. On one hand, this was the closest thing to a lead I had gotten so far. On the other hand, it didn't sound like Erin would've stayed in that tunnel for very long. On the downright scary third-hand, maybe she never did come out of that tunnel…

"Thank you very much, sir," I said to the man, and I walked away. First thing's first; I was calling my parents.

As I inserted the 35 cents into the pay phone and dialled my home number, I started to tap impatiently. Eventually, the ringing went to the answering machine. Damn; my parents must not be home.

"Hey, mom, hey, dad," I said once the beep had sounded. "It's Chris. I just wanted to let you know that I actually found a lead about where Erin went today. The problem is, I'm a little nervous about it, because the info I got said she went into a tunnel. I just wanted to say that I might actually be close, and I hope I'll see you guys soon. Bye." I hung up the phone, took a deep breath, and walked to the tunnel.

I was quite relieved when I entered the tunnel that I could use my iPod as a flashlight; I wouldn't be able to go too far in, otherwise, just because of how dark it was. Looking at the ground, it sure was slippery. A perfect place to fall and bonk your head where no one can find you…

_NO!_ I yelled to myself. _Don't say that, Chris! She's got to be in here somewhere!_

I continued to walk through the tunnel while shining my iPod's light on the ground, when suddenly, I noticed something odd; another source of light was coming from just around a bend. I put my iPod away and walked carefully to the light source. When I found it, the only thing I could say was, "Holy shit on a shit sandwich."

What I saw completely blew my mind; there was a giant golden ring, glowing and at least five feet in diameter, in the middle of the floor. The light was coming from the ring's glow, and something that… looked like a sunny outdoors-area. Was… was this some kind of vortex?

"All right, Chris," I said to myself. "I think you're starting to go insane. I mean, wormholes don't exist! It goes against the laws of physics and reality. Well, maybe not; science hasn't _disproved_ alternate dimensions or vortexes. But still! This… this is just completely mind-blowing."

I sat on the ground, looking at the vortexy-thing for God knows how long. Eventually, I said to myself, "Now I'm in a real dilemma here. I've always said to myself, 'Chris, if you ever find a wormhole-like-object, jump through it to see what it's like.' And here it is! But following that idea would be incredibly dangerous, very stupid, and at the very least would take the focus off of finding Erin."

That's when I thought, _Wait. Maybe… maybe Erin went through here, too!_ "Alright, I'm going to list pros and cons for jumping through that wormhole," I said to myself. "Cons: I could be trapped in another part of the world, or a different dimension, with absolutely no way to get home; or worse, it could be like a black hole and I could be killed instantly. Pros: Erin might've gone through here, and the wormhole jump could be as fun as hell."

I paused for one more second, thinking. "I'm gonna do it," I said to myself, and I quickly did the sign of the cross. I made sure my backpack was strapped on tightly, and that I was holding onto my rifle case firmly. Finally, I took a deep breath, and cannon-balled into the vortex.

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**Closing Notes**: _Yeah, the part where it actually becomes fanfiction happens next chapter. Sorry for delaying it like that. Also, song lyrics are (c) the Smashing Pumpkins._


	3. Chapter 3: Confusion

**A/N:** _And finally, Chapter 3. Otherwise known as "The Chapter where it actually becomes fanfiction." Let's see how you like it._

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Chapter 3

_August 5__th__ 2010 – Unknown desert location – Believed to be around 5:10 PM._

"JESUS CHRIST!" I yelled as I plummeted through the sky into the sandy ground with a sickening thud. As I lied facedown in the sand, I thought, _Well, there goes the chance of the wormhole being fun. I mean, there wasn't even any transition space! It was just boom, I'm gone._

I struggled to get up from the sand, but for some reason, my backpack seemed slightly heavier than usual. Finally, I managed to sit back up. As I spat sand out of my mouth, I thought I saw a weird black spot between my eyes, but I shrugged it off.

I took a quick look around; I seemed to be in some kind of desert, judging by all the sand, the scorching sun, and the lack of vegetation. I looked up and saw the wormhole just floating in the sky, about twenty feet above me. On one hand, I was relieved that it wasn't closing now that I had gone through. On the other hand, I would have to be able to fly in order to get back up there!

I shook my head and asked, "Where am I?" to myself, as if someone as actually going to answer. A look to my side showed that my rifle case had made the trip safely, but something seemed wrong; the case seemed a lot bigger than it had before, and its silver colour was too bright. In fact, on second glance, most of everything I could see was too vibrant in colours, particularly the one cactus I saw in the distance.

_Just calm yourself Chris_, I told myself. _Take it easy, and everything will be fine._ I struggled to stand up, but once again, it felt like my pack was a little too heavy for me, and although I could still stand decently, something told me I would have trouble walking long distances. As I stood up, I realized I hadn't been mistaken; my case was DEFINITELY bigger than it should have been; it's overall size seemed to have doubled, and it even looked like it could be longer than I was tall! I nervously reached out to grab the case, but in doing so, I caught a glimpse of my hand; it was much bigger than it should have been, and I was wearing white gloves.

I would've jumped at this if I was physically capable of doing so, so instead I just recoiled. I stared at both of my hands, in all their gloved-and-massive-sized wonder, in both awe and horror. "What the hell is going on?" I said to myself. I subconsciously looked down just then to my feet; my legs seemed a little on the short side, and both my feet and shoes looked like they had almost doubled in size.

As I saw this, the black spot in front of my face had re-caught my attention. I stuck up my right hand and brought it to my nose; I saw it stop at the black speck, and as felt the entirety of my nose, it felt as if it was several inches in front of where it should be.

I continued to feel the rest of my face, and I was becoming more horrified by the minute; most of my face felt like it was covered with fur! At least I could still see my hair, as it almost comes down in front of my eyes, like it usually does. But as I reached for my ears, my hands felt nothing where they should have been. Nervously, I started to creep my fingers up my head, and eventually, they found two pointed tips near the top of my head, that I could instantly tell were my ears.

Suddenly, I ripped off my backpack and started to dig through it to find the mirror I used for hygiene purposes. I found it, and took a look in the mirror; staring back at me was the face of an orange-and-silver fox.

I threw the mirror into the air and fell onto my hindquarters in horror, only to jump back up in pain. I looked behind me to see what had caused me to jump, and found a bushy tail swaying back and forth, emerging from the rear of my pants.

_Okay, Chris,_ I told myself. _Just breathe easily. Remain calm._

I instantly disobeyed what I was telling myself and yelled in terror at the top of my lungs. I tried banging my head against my rifle case, as it was really the only solid thing in the vicinity. "Wake up!" I yelled to myself. "Come on, Chris! This is just a dream! A really weird dream! Now wake up!"

Nothing I did made me wake up. If anything, all I did was give myself a concussion, and I don't even think I achieved that.

After several minutes, I had finally calmed down enough to try and sort everything out. "All right, Chris, here are the facts," I said to myself. "You stepped through some kind of wormhole, you were teleported to some kind of desert in the middle of nowhere, and you also turned into a fox for some strange reason." I slapped my face with my palm and sighed. "I think this is a record for the most number of laws of reality broken in one day."

I stood up again and walked over to where I threw my mirror. As I picked it up, my gaze happened upon the reflection again, but the moment I saw my furred face, I quickly looked away.

As I stuffed my mirror back into my backpack, I took out my iPod and a bottle of Coke Zero. I turned on my iPod, and was relieved to find that it still worked, although my larger hands had problems using the touch screen. Unfortunately, a quick check confirmed that there was absolutely no wi-fi in the area.

I sighed as I took off my hoodie and stuffed it into my backpack, along with my iPod. That was another thing I found odd; I had definitely shrunk to about half of my previous size, but my clothing seemed to have done the same; there was even a hole for my tail in my pants.

"This day is seriously fucked up," I muttered to myself as I unscrewed the bottle of Coke Zero and took a sip. "What am I going to do? I'm trapped in some weird desert, the only way back home is twenty feet above me, I'm already missing my parents, there's no internet here, and to top it all off, I'm a fucking fox!"

I sighed for about the millionth time that day as I took another sip. Suddenly, a thought twitched in my mind. _Wait, that guy said that Erin had gone into the same cave,_ I thought. _Could that mean… maybe she fell here, too!_

I looked above at the glowing wormhole, and then grabbed my backpack and rifle case. Despite their increased weight (or my decreased strength), I still thought I would be able to walk with them. _As long as I'm here, I might as well look to see if I might be able to find Erin,_ I thought,_ although I wouldn't be shocked if she ended up like me. And even though I have no idea were anything is, or where I am, the fact is that I'd make more ground if I got moving. Besides, it's starting to get really hot._

Before I started to leave, I grabbed the pair of sunglasses in my pocket that I keep on my at all times, flipped them a couple of times, and then stuck them on my face. "Groovy," I commented to myself, and I started to walk in a random direction.

I walked for several hours. Before you start asking, "Wait, how did you get that far without at least getting worn out?" you should know that I DID start getting worn out by about the first hour. After that, I started to walk more and more slowly, I was sweating like crazy, and I'm pretty sure that I smelled horrible by that point.

The craziest part was that I still had no idea about where the hell I was going. The desert didn't seem to be ending anytime soon, and there was still a lack of vegetation. Not to mention my bottle of Coke only had a couple of sips left, and I wasn't sure how much longer I could go before collapsing from the mix of heat and exhaustion. I probably would have dropped earlier if it wasn't for the sun starting to set.

Just as I thought like I would fall any second, my half-focused eyes suddenly shot wide open; just a couple of steps in front of me, the ground dropped off into a humongous cliff. I stopped myself just in time and fell backwards. "That was a close one," I muttered, and I inched forward and peeked my head over the cliff to take a look down.

I was lucky to have noticed where I was going in time; the cliff was easily at least a hundred feet downwards. But as I stared over the edge, there was something odd about the ground. It looked… like the ground was slowly moving below the cliff. As I peered over the edge, I could see trees slowly disappear underneath the "wall" of the cliff.

I picked myself back up again. _Am I on some kind of floating island?_ I thought to myself. _That makes, what, four laws of reality broken today?_ I shrugged off the thought as I grabbed my rifle case tightly. "Jesus, how am I gonna get down from here?" I asked myself quietly while leaning over the edge.

It was at that moment I heard a voice say, "Hey, you!"

The sudden noise shocked me, sending me tumbling over the edge of the cliff. "CRAAAAAP!" I yelled as I fell down.

As I fell, several thoughts went through my mind. The most prominent of these thoughts was, _I can't believe it. Not only do several laws of physics get broken, but now I also get to die, and no one will ever know what happened to me. This is just perfect. I can't believe how wonderful this day is. I DON'T WANT TO DIE!_

Just before I thought my brains would splatter on the ground at any moment, something suddenly tackled me from the side, and my momentum shifted sideways while beginning to slow. I opened my eyes and saw that something, or some_one_, had caught me and was gliding slowly to the ground, even though I had no idea how that was possible, seeing as how I couldn't see any wings or anything like that; I just saw something red.

Soon, whatever had saved me had descended close enough to the ground that I could touch it. I did, and it let go of me, dropping me to my hands and knees. I let out several sighs of relief. My backpack was still on tight, but I think I dropped my rifle case a few yards back.

"Hey, are you alright?" A voice behind me asked; I assumed it was whoever had saved me.

"Yeah," I panted out, my adrenaline still pumping. "Yeah, I think I'm alright. God, that was scary."

"I'm sorry about accidentally making you go over the edge like that," he apologized.

"Well, that was kind of a jerk move, scaring me like that," I responded, still panting, without looking back, "but you still saved my life. Thank you so much."

"Hey, no problem," they responded. "But still, you looked kind of suspicious, just standing by yourself with a ton of luggage near the edge of the island. I was worried you were a thief of some kind, which is why I yelled."

"Me, a thief?" I asked. "Well, yeah, I guess me carrying all this stuff is kind of suspicious," I admitted as I turned around to face the owner of the voice. "But all I was really trying to do was find a way…"

I suddenly stopped as I finally got a good look at the one who had saved me. The majority of his body was covered in red fur, and hair-like spikes, similar to dreadlocks, extended from the back of his head down to a short, crooked tail. As I gazed, shocked, into his large, purple eyes, I could see several emotion within them, among them concern, confidence, and even a bit of honesty. I had come face-to-face with an echidna by the name of Knuckles.

"Kid? Are you feeling okay?" Knuckles asked me.

I didn't respond. All I did was faint and black out.

* * *

**Closing notes:** _WHAT A TWEEST! In all seriousness though, in real life I'd be "what". Now Chris is a fox, and Knuckles has shown up... what exactly is happening? I'd really like to see criticism for this story. **Reviews, flames, ANYTHING.**_


	4. Chapter 4: MindScrew

**A/N**: _One more chapter for you all. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 4

_August 6__th__ 2010 (Mobius date unknown) – Somewhere on Angel Island – 8:37 AM_

I suddenly came to my senses, and even though my eyes were closed, I could tell that it was early morning, and that I was in a bed of some kind.

_Was… was it just a dream?_ I asked myself. _And if it was, how much of it was a dream? Certainly not the entire past year, and it would be unlikely to even be more than a couple of days, but if so, then how did I get back in bed if I hadn't returned home yet? Wait… maybe I did, and I completely forgot it as part of my dream. It's unlikely, but possible… more possible than it not being a dream, anyways._

I continued to lie there with my eyes closed for several seconds. _I think I'm just going to sleep in some more. After all, it's summer._ With my eyes still closed, I turned over on to my side, when I felt something odd… like my butt being larger than normal and brushing against the blankets.

_No,_ I told myself. _It couldn't be._ I twitched a couple of muscles in my behind, and sure enough, I felt an extension of my rear lightly swish underneath the sheets. Finally, I opened my eyes.

I didn't recognize the room I was in: it had a sort of rustic look to it, like that of a log cabin. The sheets of the bed I was in were pulled almost to my head and the smell of pine needles eradiated from them. I reluctantly threw the sheets back, and looked down at my body. The sight of the furry tail between my legs confirmed it; I was still a fox! It hadn't been a dream! And I was still wearing the clothes from yesterday for some reason.

I curled over into a prone position and thought deeply. _I've done this before, but I still need to get all of the facts straight,_ I told myself. _The wormhole dropped me off in the middle of a desert, I turned into a fox, walked for several miles, found out I was on some kind of floating island, accidentally fall off of it, and just as I thought I was going to die, Knuckles the Echidna saves me. Am… am I on Mobius?_ My body tensed up and I started to scream internally. _How?_ I asked myself. _How is that even possible?_

I slowly shook my head. _Alright Chris,_ I thought, _just keep it together, man. Gotta keep it together. Yes, the entire thing is insane, but you've got to just fly with it for now._ I slowly came to my senses again, or as close as I could, considering that _I WAS A FREAKING FOX!_

I quickly calmed myself down again and looked around the room I was in more carefully. I saw that my backpack and rifle case were tucked neatly away in a corner; a nice enough gesture. Next to the bed was a shelf. Most of its contents weren't particularly noteworthy, but one item caught my eye; a small picture frame. Finally gathering the courage to get out of bed, I walked over to the shelf and examined the picture more closely. The photo was of two echidnas: one looked to be very young, no older than ten; the other was much older than the other and had a greyish goatee. I figured that this picture must be of Knuckles and his father when he was much younger. What was his father's name again?

"You alright, kid?" a voice suddenly spoke.

"Ah!" I yelled as I jumped in shock. I quickly turned around and saw Knuckles standing at the door. Looks like he'd been waiting for me to wake up.

"Oh! Sorry," Knuckles apologized to me. "I didn't mean to scare you like that. Man, I really need to stop that."

I sighed with relief. "Nah, it's… it's okay," I stammered out. I guess part of me still couldn't believe all this was really happening.

"Uh, here, take this," said Knuckles, handing me a glass of water. "You should be parched after yesterday."

"Um… thank you," I responded, taking the glass from him. Knuckles was right; I was dying for a drink, and I downed almost the entire thing at once.

Knuckles chuckled. "You really were thirsting to death, weren't you?" he joked. "Anyways, I'm Knuckles. I'm the guardian of Angel Island. What's your name?" He offered his hand to me as he said this.

I squashed my instinctual answer of "I know that" and instead said, "My name's Chris," while shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Same here," Knux responded, smiling. "Are you from around here, Chris?"

"No," I admitted while putting down the water glass. "In fact, I was actually kind of lost until you found me."

Knuckles raised an eyebrow at me. "Then how did you get on the island in the first place?" he inquired.

"Uh… it's a really long story," I told him as I looked down. "I'm not entirely sure myself, actually."

My answer didn't really seem to satisfy Knuckles, but he dropped the subject anyways. "Well, Chris, if you're lost and don't know where to go, you could always stay here until you've got something down.'

"Really?" I asked. "'Thanks! I mean, I was kind of in the middle of something, but there's no point doing that if I'm lost or dead."

Knuckles grinned. "Hey, no problem!" he confided. "Oh, and feel free to take a bath if you want to. The bathroom is just outside the room." With that, he walked out the door.

I paused for a second before taking a sniff of my arm. Yech, the stench was awful, and this is coming from a guy who can't tell if his own breath smells bad. I decided to take Knuckles' second offer as well. I quickly searched through my backpack for the bar of soap I brought, as well as a change of clothing, and I walked out of the room.

.***.

Knuckles was right; the bathroom was right across from the bedroom I was in. It was a neat little bathroom, with the same log-cabin décor the other room had, and the same outdoorsy-pine needle scent filled the room. I started to fill the bathtub and began to strip when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I had only taken a quick glance yesterday before going into a panic attack, but now that I was much more calm, I could study how I looked more efficiently.

My body was indeed covered with fur from head to toe. The majority of it was a rusty orange colour, but sections of it, such as on my chest, my muzzle, the insides of my ears, and the tip of my tail, were a light grey. They had a kind of dull-silver look to them. I swished my tail a couple of times and shuddered; it still felt really weird having an extension of my spine like that.

I saw my new, vulpine ears on the top of my head, parting my hair. That was the strangest thing in my opinion; I still had my messy, chestnut hair, reaching the back of my neck. I wasn't really sure if it fit my look. My eyes, even though they were larger now, still had the same hazel-green colour to them, and I still looked as if I never got a lot of sleep. At least something hadn't changed.

I shook my head as I finished stripping and turned off the tap. I tested the bathwater; nice and warm, just how I like it. I jumped into it and began to relax. As I washed myself, I thought, _Well Chris, even if you're in an odd universe where everything breaks the laws of reality, there's still always warm baths to make you feel better. Still, I can't help but feel disappointed. I mean, this was the perfect chance for me to be genre savvy, and instead of becoming a Sonic nerd like Erin did, I instead wasted all of my time playing rhythm games, and here I am, knowing almost nothing about the Sonic universe._

When I finished my bath, I got out of the tub and started to dry myself, which took quite a while for obvious reasons. I changed into the spare clothes I had brought along: another white t-shirt (I really like those things) and a pair of tan cargo pants. I had a little difficulty getting my tail through the hole in the pants (I still found that weird), but overall, I was ready within five minutes.

I picked up the pile of dirty clothing lying on the floor and stepped out of the bathroom. As I walked into the hallway, I almost crashed into Knuckles.

"Whoa! Easy there, pal," Knuckles chuckled as we both stepped back. "Don't flatten me."

"Oh, sorry, Knuckles," I quickly apologized. "Maybe I should look where I'm going more often. And once again, thank you so much for everything you've done."

"Hey, the golden rule, right?" responded Knuckles. "Don't worry about it!"

"Um… you wouldn't happen to know where I'd be able to get these clothes washed, would you?" I asked, referring to the pile of dirty clothes in my arms.

"Oh," Knuckles said while staring at the pile. "Yeah, I guess I know somewhere you could put them. Follow me." He started to walk down the hall, and I followed close behind. "By the way, Chris, I never asked," Knux suddenly chimed up. "Where were you heading, anyways?"

"Uh, really nowhere in particular," I admitted as I walked along behind him. "I was just searching for a friend when I got lost."

"A friend?" Knuckles asked me, intrigued.

"Yeah," I admitted, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "She went missing a while ago and… crap." Something fell out of the jeans' pocket; it was the photo of Erin and I, and it landed face down on the floor. At least it hadn't gone through the wash.

"Eh?" Knuckles asked, turning around, and he saw the photo on the ground. "What's this?" He picked it up and looked at it.

"Oh, that's just a picture of myself and that friend I was talking about," I explained. "It's a few years old but I like keeping it around." Knuckles didn't answer; he just continued to stare at it. "What's wrong?" I asked.

Knuckles blinked and plainly stated, "I know her."

"_What?_" I asked.

"I said I know her," Knuckles responded without looking up. "I know your friend."

I dropped the clothes I was carrying. "Are… are you serious?" I asked in an almost demanding voice.

"Yes," he answered, finally looking up. "I met her years ago, when I was a kid. She's a very nice girl. Actually, I saw her again just a couple of weeks ago."

I stared blankly at Knuckles for several seconds, my mind completely blank. I'm not even sure how long I stood there. All I know is that I snapped out of it when Knuckles said, "Chris? Are you alright?"

I shook my head slowly. "I… I'll be fine," I said. "W…where is she now?"

"She told me she was going to be staying with Sonic," Knuckles replied.

"Woah, woah, woah, hold on a minute," I interrupted. "She's staying with Sonic? You mean _the_ Sonic? The hedgehog?"

"Uh, yeah, why?" Knuckles answered.

I shook my head again. "This whole day has just been completely mind-blowing," I muttered.

"Not really," Knuckles replied, overhearing me.

"Alright," I said, finally pulling myself together. "Knux, could you listen for a second? I have to say right now that I know virtually nothing about the geography of this world. You told me Erin's with Sonic right? The problem is, I have no idea _where_ they are. I need to find Erin. That's the entire reason I'm here in the first place, and I need your help. I need to find her _now_!"

"Whoa, Chris, calm down!" Knuckles told me, gently grabbing me by the shoulders. "I understand what you're getting at, but do you really think you're going to find her just by rushing off again?"

It was just then that I noticed I was hyperventilating. I calmly got my breath under control. "I'm sorry, Knuckles," I responded once I was calm again. "It's just… I'm just really concerned about her, that's all."

"Hey, don't fret about it!" Knux assured me, and he gave me a warming smile. "I understand completely. It's just that you looked like you were on the verge of collapsing out in Sandopolis, and I don't want that happening to you again. I'm just suggesting that you stay here for a while, rest up and get nourished. After that, I'll help you find Erin in any way that I can."

I smiled. "Alright, thanks Knux," I responded. It was then that I noticed I had dropped my dirty clothes. "Oh, whoops. I guess we forgot about getting all of this stuff clean."

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that.," Knuckles admitted when he saw the clothes. "Just follow me, and I'll take care of them."

"Once again, thanks, Knuckles," I said, and with that, I picked up the pile of clothing and followed him down the hall.

* * *

**Closing Notes**: _Now shit is REALLY getting serious. Knux knows who Erin is? What the hell is going on? Stay tuned to find out... and please critique._


	5. Chapter 5: Conversation and Dreams

**Author's Note:** _This will be the last Pre-chapter author's note. All future ones will be after the chapter. All I wanted to do was remind you that **I like reviews**._

* * *

**Chapter 5**

_August 6__th__, 2010 (Mobius date unknown) – Knuckles' Home, Angel Island – 6:25 PM_

_Sometimes I give myself the creeps,__  
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.  
It all keeps adding up,  
I think I'm cracking up.__  
Am I just paranoid?  
Am I just stoned?_

As the song came to an end, I switched off my iPod quickly. _I don't want to waste all of the battery life_, I told myself. It had been strange inserting the headphones into my new ears, but I had gotten used to the strange occurrences by now.

Still, despite being stuck on Mobius, I didn't think it was all that bad. After all, Knuckles had found me, and he was a pretty nice guy overall. My main concern was still finding Erin, but I couldn't argue with Knuckles' insistence that I stay with him until I at least know what the hell I'm doing.

The door to the room opened, and Knuckles walked in. "Chris?" he asked. "I made some dinner, in case you're hungry."

In all actuality, I was famished, but I didn't want to appear rude. Instead, I said, "Thanks, Knuckles," and followed him out into the hallway to the dining room.

"Just so you know, I'm not much of a cook, but I did my best," Knuckles warned me as I sat down at the table. He handed me a plate covered with some sort of stew. I didn't much care what it was, and I just took a large bite the moment Knuckles sat down. It wasn't five-star cuisine, but it wasn't half-bad, either.

"This is pretty good," I commented as I took another bite, and I saw Knux smile as he began to eat, too.

"So Chris, there's something I've been wanting to ask you," Knuckles said to me.

I finished swallowing the food in my mouth and said, "What is it?"

"Well, I was wondering, how do you know Erin from where you come from?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh," I said, taken off-guard, and I thought for a minute. "Well, um, I met her about five years ago, when we were about 12 or 13. We shared a bunch of common interests, I liked her artistic ability, she liked my writing ability, and we became good friends. And then… she just disappeared a year and a half ago without a trace."

Knuckles nodded. "She was probably here at that time," he said.

"Yeah, I started to suspect that a few hours ago," I admitted.

"Wait, you mean she never told you _anything_?" Knuckles asked, astounded.

"Uh," I said, trying to think, "She showed me her arm." Knuckles nodded in understanding. "But she really didn't want to say anything else. Honestly, after what I've seen in the past few days, I'm not surprised."

Knux didn't respond for several seconds, and he just ate his dinner. Finally, he said, "I met her back when I was just a kid. Unbelievable, that girl was. My father and I found her unconscious out in the desert, and… well, she was very talented at the least, I'd say. Actually, I…" his face suddenly lowered a little, as if he was embarrassed. "I think I actually had a crush on her."

Knuckles and I just stared at each other for several minutes. Suddenly, we both burst out laughing.

"A crush on Erin?" I asked, barely able to stop from rolling on the floor. "Are you totally serious?"

"Yeah, but I was just a little kid," Knux responded, trying to calm himself down a little. "I was unbelievably naïve back then."

I nodded as I calmed myself down, and continued to eat my dinner. "Anyways, I'm actually looking for her because she went missing again, just a couple of weeks ago," I explained.

Knuckles looked at me. "Funny," he said. "That's actually when I last saw her."

My heart stopped pounding for a fraction of a second. "Really?" I asked. "Is she okay, at the least?"

"Erin was fine when I saw her," Knux answered. "She just wanted to visit for a bit before heading off." There was something off in the way he said that, like he wasn't telling me everything.

I nodded as I continued to eat dinner, and we both did so in silence. Knux had just given me several new things to worry about: Erin obviously had stumbled into Mobius somehow the first time she vanished, but did she do it purposefully this time? What kind of "talented" was Knuckles talking about? Are the time differences between the two universes really that different (because how could he have been a little kid a year and a half ago)? And how much was Erin really keeping a secret from me?

.***.

I was standing in some kind of dark area. A look at my body revealed that I was completely human, but somehow this didn't concern me. I could see people in the distance, about twenty metes away from me. I walked up to the group, and I could see that they were talking to each other about something. As I got closer, I suddenly recognized them; they were my parents, along with friends and other people I knew. Some looked like police officers.

As I came within a few metres of them, I suddenly banged into something. I tried going forward again, but some sort of invisible wall prevented me from doing so. I instead stared at the scene before me.

My parents had the most concerned looks I had ever seen on their faces, and they were talking to the police officer about something. I couldn't hear them for some reason. My mother looked like she had been crying a long time. With them, I saw a bunch of my friends, who all looked incredibly worried and sad, as well as other relatives. My grandmother was sobbing against my grandfather's shirt.

I banged against the invisible wall. "Hey!" I yelled. "Mom! Dad! Anyone! I'm over here!" There was no response; the group just carried on with what they were doing. I now noticed that there were other people in the group, too: Erin's parents and some of her friends I met at birthday parties were with them, too.

"Come on!" I yelled as I kicked at the force-field. "Is it me you're looking for? I'm right here, guys!"

"They can't hear us," someone said to me.

I quickly spun around, and I saw Erin standing behind me, an expression of sorrow on her face. "Erin?" I asked. "What do you mean they can't hear us?"

Erin slowly walked towards me, but her gaze left me and instead went to the scene beyond the force-field. "They're not with us," she explained. "They can't see us or hear us, and we can't contact them."

"But… but there has to be some way to get them to notice us," I reasoned. "Isn't there? There has to be!"

Erin sadly shook her head. "There isn't," she responded. "We can't contact them, and we never will."

"No!" I yelled, grabbing Erin by her shirt. "There has to be a way! I need to get to them! _You_ need to get to them."

She shook her head again, this time in exasperation. "What makes you think I need to get to them? I left them in the first place."

"_What?_" I yelled in disbelief, letting my grip go. "Erin, have you gone insane?"

"None of them need me," Erin said as she looked back at the scene. "They may want me, but they're better off without me, and I'm better off without them. Maybe you're the same. Maybe you're better off without them, too."

"No I'm not!" I yelled. "You _have_ gone insane! Even if you don't think you want to be with your family, your friends, the people who've cared for you all your life; even if _you_ don't think you need that, _I_ do. I NEED TO BE WITH THEM!"

Erin stared at me for a second before replying, "I'm sorry you feel that way, Chris. Because you can't be with them. It's too late. They're in the past, and we can't ever go back." She began to walk away, and the world started to fade.

"No!" I yelled. "Erin! Please wait!" Then the world went black…

.***.

"AUGH!" I screamed as I woke up, panting and sweating hard. I was in the spare bedroom Knuckles had set up for me, and a quick check revealed I was still a fox. There were no people and no empty blackness; there was only the room, the bed, and a few shelves. It was just a dream.

I leaned back in bed and shuddered. That dream… it was so vivid, and the way everything was, it was almost like a second-sight of some kind, or at least a huge metaphor. But what could it mean?

"Chris? Are you alright?" Knuckles asked as he opened the door. "I heard you scream. Did you have a nightmare or something?"

"Yes, I did," I told him. "I… I think I'm alright now, though."

Knux looked at me, concerned, but then said, "Well, if you're sure you're alright, then you had better get back to sleep. You need lots of rest.

"Yeah," I responded. "That's a good idea. Thanks, Knux." With that, Knuckles closed the door and left.

I lied back in bed, but it was difficult for me to get back to sleep. Just what the hell was that dream about? I still couldn't stop thinking about it, like it meant something important. However, before I could think about it any more, my eyes started to flutter, and I was soon fast asleep again.

* * *

**Closing Notes:**_ A dream sequence! How cliché. But seriously, the whole conversation with Knux has just made things more confusing for Chris... what will happen next?_


	6. Chapter 6: Travelling and Discovery

**A/N:** _This is chapter 6, and the first chapter I really think things start to become awkward in my writing. Also, I only have up to chapter 8 written; my friend is writing part of chapter 9 for me, and she has yet to finish it. Oh well. Here's chapter 6._

_

* * *

_Chapter 6

_Mobius date: Oct. 21, 3237 – Eastern Angel Island – 12:07 PM_

"Quite the hike, isn't it?" I asked sarcastically.

"Well, we're almost there, at any rate," Knuckles replied to me.

I gave a small sigh, and continued pressing on with Knuckles. We had left a couple of hours ago, after we had gone over some basic layouts of the planet, the island, and general information. Knux had even given me a couple of maps; that was nice of him. Fortunately, he was right about us almost being there; I could see the edge of the island just a short ways up ahead.

"Well, here we are," I said as we came to the edge. "Knux, once again, thank you for everything that you've done.

"No problem, Chris," Knuckles responded. "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" I inquired.

"Oh, just a second," Knux told me, and he ran off a short distance. He came back carrying what looked like a giant hamster ball; it was spherical, completely transparent, appeared to be made of plastic or glass, and was about six feet in diameter.

"What's this for?" I asked.

"Well, Chris," Knuckles said, scratching his head, "the things is, even though this is about as close as Angel Island is ever going to get to New Mobotropolis, we're still several hundred miles away."

"WHAT?" I suddenly yelled.

"Hey, that's why we have this thing," Knuckles explained. "It was a prototype of a vehicle that Tails was trying to create a while ago. He gave up on this version because there's no proper way to steer, but he let me keep it, and now I actually have a chance to use it. Basically, after activation, this thing accelerates to almost the speed of sound, and maintains it until either it is deactivated, or it runs out of fuel. Plus, it doesn't descend until either of those happen, either."

I looked over the hamster-ball vehicle, impressed with the background Knuckles was giving me. Tails sure was one smart kid. "Um, how does it actually work?" I asked. "I don't see any method of propulsion on this thing."

"Actually, I, uh, don't really know," Knuckles admitted while scratching his head. "I wasn't paying attention to that part when Tails gave it to me."

I rolled my eyes. "Still, this thing should come in handy," I said. "I just have a few questions. First off, if there's no way to steer, how am I supposed to know if I'm heading in the right direction?"

"Well, you have your compass, right?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah," I said as I took it out of my pocket.

"All we have to do is position the pod south, and slightly east, like so," Knuckles said as he studied the compass and lined up the pod with the needle's reading, "and presto, it's in the general direction."

"Okay," I said, still a little sceptical. "Secondly, how much gas does it have in it?"

"I think it has about two hours' worth," Knuckles responded. "Don't worry. By the time the tank is empty, you should only be about a hundred miles away at the most. I'm sure you'd be able to make it the rest of the way yourself."

"Alright," I said. "Finally, how do I get it back to you?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Knuckles assured me. "Like I said, it was a prototype, and I honestly don't have much further use for it. If someone ever finds it, they can have it if they don't kill themselves with it."

"Fair enough," I responded. "Okay, I guess I'm ready then."

Knuckles touched the pod lightly on its side a couple of times, and then it suddenly opened up on an invisible hinge. Looking inside, I saw that there was a chair, a restraining device, and two buttons next to it. At least it looked reasonably safe, so far.

I threw my backpack and rifle case into the back of the ball, and then I got in myself. After buckling myself in (and getting out my iPod, seeing as how it would still be a long journey), Knuckles said, "Alright, we're all set. Just so you know, the green button is the activation, the black is the de-activation, the red light between the two comes on when either the fuel runs out or the black button is pressed, and it automatically opens after is comes to a complete stop."

"I've got it," I told him. "Well, goodbye, Knux. Hopefully we'll see each other again."

"Yup," Knuckles replied. "Well, good luck." With that, Knuckles shut the pod for me and stepped back.

I took a deep breath. _I sure hope this doesn't kill me,_ I thought as I finally pressed the green button. The pod shook for a couple of seconds, and then suddenly lurched forward off of the island, careening at a speed I never thought I would be at. "CRAAAAAP!" I yelled as it continued accelerating.

.***.

_Ooh, I burn,  
Fuel is pumping engines,  
Burnin' hard, loose and clean.  
Then I burn,  
Turning my direction,  
Quench my thirst with gasoline.  
Gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire_

It was a couple of hours later. My body had eventually gotten used to the g-force, so I decided to listen to some music. Unfortunately, as that song came to an end, a look at my iPod showed that I only had a couple of hours of battery life left. I decided to turn it off to save power.

Still, I was surprised that careening through the sky at almost the speed of sound could be so boring overall. Sure, it was interesting seeing everything go by so quickly, but the ground was still VERY far beneath me. I was hoping that I would get to New Mobotropolis, soon.

Speak of the devil; it was about at that moment that the red light came on. "Out of gas already?" I asked myself. A few seconds later, I felt the pod starting to slow down, and it was also descending. "Something tells me I'm not gonna like this."

A couple of minutes later, the pod's speed was easily down to no more than about 100 km/h, and it was only a few hundred feet from the ground. The angle at which the pod was facing heavily implied that landing would involve face-planting into the ground, which would come any second now. "Oh crap," I said moments before impact.

The pod hit the ground, bounced back up, and started doing front flips repeatedly. After several more bounces and flips, the pod finally stayed on the ground, still rolling for the next minute or so, before finally coming to a complete stop and opening up,

I stumbled out of the pod, extremely dizzy and nauseous. I quickly ran a few feet away and barfed repeatedly. "God, that wasn't fun in the slightest," I said to myself, and I started to walk back to the pod to collect my backpack and rifle case.

"Alright, now where am I?" I asked as I studied the map Knuckles gave me and my compass. "Wait; is that a river over there?" I looked to my left at the nearby river, and then back down at the map. I smiled. _Sweet_, I thought. _This is kind of a more heavily-dense forest, meaning that this river leads… to the ocean. But that also means that New Mobotropolis is southwest from here. I can do this._ With that, I put away the map, grabbed my backpack and rifle case, slipped on my sunglasses, and started to walk.

.***.

_God, this is taking forever_, I thought to myself a couple of hours later. _I know I'm going the right way, so why haven't I reached the city yet?_

It was then that I heard a noise in the distance. "What was that?" I asked myself, and I listened more closely. It sounded like some kind of a struggle, and I thought I heard the banging of metal. My curiosity got the better of me, and so I started to walk in the direction of the noises. After a couple of minutes, I could see some figures in a small clearing up ahead.

_Wait, Chris_, I told myself, _don't rush into the situation. Scout it out, first._ I opened up my rifle case, took out only the sniper scope, and peered into the clearing with it.

A strange sight befell me; I saw several mechanical beings, like robots, performing acts of random violence on something. Further focusing of the lens revealed what they were attacking; it was an echidna, much like Knuckles. However, this echidna, from what I could tell, looked like a female. She also had a small amount of copper-brownish hair down in front of her eyes, and was wearing a pair of glasses, as well as a grey t-shirt, black jeans, and knee-high leather boots. She was performing almost acrobatic-like manoeuvres as she pounded on them.

_Holy crap,_ I thought to myself. _Okay, Chris, if there's one thing you do know about Mobius, it's that robots are never good, meaning that echidna girl might need some help. Still, maybe it's best if I don't get involved. After all,_ I thought as I saw her slam another robot, _she looks like she's handling the situation fine on her own._ It was at that point that a robot grabbed her from behind and pinned her to the ground. _Oh! Okay, intervention time it is._

I quickly got out the rest of my rifle components and hastily started to put them together. I did so in about fifteen seconds, and then attached the scope to the top, slammed the magazine in, and then cocked it back. As I peered through the scope at the robots, I suddenly thought, _Wait, what am I doing? Those are robots, Chris; they're made of metal. The chances of you being able to pierce the outer shell are slim-to-none, and even then, you have no idea where the main circuit board would be._ I saw the robot who had pinned the echidna lift her into the air by the throat. _Ah, screw it; I'll give it a shot anyways_.

It was about that time when my iPod switched on by itself. _God dammit, not again,_ I thought. However, there were two things keeping me from switching it off: the first was that it would take too long, and the second was the song itself; "Another One Bites the Dust," probably the perfect song to snipe to. _Awesome_, I thought as I peered through the scope again and aimed at the head of the robot holding the echidna. "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker," I whispered as I pulled the trigger.

The bullet whizzed through the air and dug itself into the head of the robot. Sparks flew out of the hole for a second, and then it released its grip on the echidna and collapsed to the ground, completely disabled. Unfortunately, although she was now free of its grip, the echidna's legs were now stuck under the robot's chassis. Most of the remaining robots, as well as the echidna, were now scouting the area for whatever had taken it out.

"Boom, headshot," I whispered to myself. "Actually, I'm really surprised that worked. Anyways, time to finish this up." I started to fire as the chorus to the song started, and I sang along:

_BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!_ "Another one bites the dust." _BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!_ "Another one bites the dust." _BLAM!_ "And another one gone," _BLAM!_ "and another one gone, another one bites the dust. Hey!" _BLAM!_ "I'm gonna get you too, another one bites the dust."

A total of ten wrecked robots were now lying in the clearing as I put down the rifle, shut off my iPod, and started walking towards the area. The echidna had now managed to free herself from the wreckage, and was now looking around with a confused expression on her face. She finally saw me as I arrived at the clearing.

I extended my hand towards her. "Are you okay?" I asked.

The echidna took my hand. "Yeah, I think I'm okay," she responded. "That was a close one. Thank you." There was something oddly familiar about her voice.

"You're welcome," I told her, and then I looked at the mess I had caused. "Damn," I muttered. "Why were these things attacking you, anyways?"

"Because I'm a fugitive of their designer," she responded. "You know, the usual." She gave a shrug as she said this.

"I hear that," I replied sarcastically. "Maybe he should have used a stronger material for the hull for these things, eh?" I suddenly stopped and smacked my forehead. "Jeez, I've gone and forgotten my manners again! Anyways, my name's Chris. What's yours?"

The echidna hesitated for a second, as if my name was important in some way, but she quickly snapped out of it. "My name's Eri," she replied. "Eri-Le Parks. And don't sweat it; I've dealt with worse in the past."

I frowned a little. "Really?" I inquired. "Maybe you didn't need my help, then."

"Oh, no!" Eri-Le stopped me. "No, I'm quite grateful for what you did. I just usually don't get caught off-guard, that's all."

"Right," I said. "Heh, if they send worse than these, they must really have an obsession with you." My eyes started to drift over the wreckage of the robots, and I started to wonder if there was anything of value in their parts.

"Not really," Eri responded, as if this was just a casual conversation with someone she knew. "It's just that once he found out how powerful I was, Eggman started to want me as a pet. Apparently he knew I have trouble dealing with the 'bots."

"Eggman, eh?" I inquired. Finally, something else I knew about this universe; an evil scientist obsessed with technology and the desire to convert everything on the planet into a robot. "Psh, what a douche," I muttered when I thought about him. Suddenly, I couldn't resist it any more; I started to plough through the wreckage of the machines, looking for valuables amongst the parts.

"Um, Chris? There's not much worth saving in there," Eri told me.

"Really?" I asked, but I didn't need to. She was right; most of the parts were either destroyed, or completely useless to me. I found a couple of intact wires that I pocketed, but overall, I came up empty-handed. "Ah, poopy." I said. "Would've liked a souvenir."

"Then here, catch!" Eri called as she threw something to me. I quickly caught it and examined it; it appeared to be some sort of green glass or crystal, but I could feel… something from within it. Like a deep force or power or strength, or whatever you want to call it. "It's a Chaos Emerald shard the alpha was using," Eri told me.

I shook my head violently as I stared at it. "Seriously?" I asked. "Jeebus, that's awesome! Thanks!" I quickly pocketed the shard. "So, uh, Eri-Le, was it? Do you mind if I call you Eri?"

"Not at all," Eri responded.

"Alright," I said. "So Eri, where were you headed before… this happened?"

"Oh, I was on my way to Freedom HQ."

My heart skipped a beat; Freedom HQ, the headquarters of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, and, if Knux was right, the most likely place I'd find Sonic. This day just kept getting better. "Really?" I asked as I started to walk back to gather my equipment. "I was actually headed in that direction myself." As I packed my rifle back into the case, I added, "The problem is, I'm actually kind of lost. My map doesn't seem to be helping, either." I took the map out of my bag with another bottle of Coke Zero, and I took a sip as I studied the geography again.

Eri had followed me back to my equipment. "Well, you're in luck, then," she said. "I can get us there from anywhere in this forest."

She pulled something out of her pocket; to me, it looked like some sort of cell phone or handheld device. So you can guess why I was shocked when I heard it say, "Eri, are you alright?"

"Yes, NICOLE, I'm fine," Eri responded to it. She then presented it to me. "NICOLE, meet Chris," Eri introduced. "Chris, this is NICOLE, Princess Sally's AI sidekick. She can do the navigating for us."

I looked at the handheld device Eri was holding, or NICOLE. It seemed like just a little cell phone or something, but if what Eri said is true, which is likely… "Whoa," I whispered, and I took another sip of my Coke. "These past few days have gone from just plain insane to insane and awesome pretty quickly.

"It's nice to meet you, Chris," NICOLE said to me.

"Same to you, NICOLE," I replied, smiling.

"Well, we should get going now," NICOLE said to Eri and I.

"Of course," Eri complied. "Just lead the way." As she said that, I heard NICOLE processing information, and we were soon on our way. As we walked, I couldn't help but feel that I was ignoring something that was obvious.

.***.

"Ah, what a day," I commented to myself as I grabbed some wood and gathered it together.

It was night time now, and with the darkness approaching, both Eri and I agreed that we should stop and rest until morning before we proceed. Eri was making some sort of makeshift tent, while I was trying to get a fire going. That nagging feeling in the back of my head that something important was nearby continued to poke lightly at my brain. It was a little more clear, now; it was trying to tell me something about Eri, something I should know, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

"Erg, I hate having to do this, but…" Eri commented as she worked.

"Eh, same here," I replied as I rubbed a couple of the sticks together. Like that was going to work. "It makes me wish I had packed some matches or something."

As I continued to rub faster and faster, my tail swishing rapidly with the movements of the sticks, I heard an "Ahem" come from Eri. I stopped and turned around; she was holding a Zippo lighter.

I face-palmed myself. "Thanks," I muttered as I took the lighter from Eri and began to flick it. When the flame came up, I held it into the mock-pit I had created. Within minutes, the fire was finally burning. "Heh-heh," I muttered. "Fire, fire! Burn, burn! Fire! Heh-heh."

I heard Eri sigh from behind me; apparently she had heard my ramblings. "Ah, randomness," I commented to myself as I grabbed my backpack, pulled out the sleeping bag, and began to roll it out. A quick look back at Eri revealed that she was glancing at me out of the corner of her eye with a weird expression; like she knew me, and couldn't figure out how. Weird.

"So, Chris, what're you doing so far away from civilization, anyway?" Eri asked me.

"Oh," I said, caught off guard. I didn't think she'd ever believe me about being from a different universe, so I tried to think of the best way to hide that fact. "Um, it's a long story, Eri. Basically, I was looking for someone and I somehow ended up on Angel Island."

"Maybe I can help," Eri replied.

"Huh?" I asked, looking up at her. "Help with what?"

"Well, you just said you were looking for someone," Eri reasoned. "I was thinking maybe I could help you find them."

I shook my head slowly. "No offence, Eri, but I doubt you'd have ever seen her," I answered.

"Well, even if I haven't, there's no problem trying, is there?" Eri reasoned, giving me an assuring smile. "Describe her. I'll see if I can get my bud Vector on the case."

"Well, um," I thought for a minute, trying to remember what Erin looked like; even though I started looking for her the moment she disappeared, the last time I saw her was actually a month before that. Still, I tried to get the best image of her that I could. "Her hair is dark brown, and she usually has it up in a ponytail," I spoke and thought simultaneously. "She has a preference to wearing dark colours, and she wears…" I looked at Eri as I said this, and finished with "…glasses…" as I noticed the glasses she was wearing.

Eri looked like she was making a mental note. "Okay, I think I've got it," she told me. "Shouldn't be too hard to find." She finally noticed me staring at her. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

I shook my head. "It's nothing," I responded. "Just a stupid thought that crossed my mind." That nagging thing in the back of my head was as strong as ever.

Eri frowned at me. "Liar. I know something's up," she stated plainly.

I almost scowled at her; I knew for a fact that I wasn't lying, and that the thought really was stupid. But then my expression dropped as I realized that, maybe something was wrong. Maybe the fact that I was looking this desperately for Erin proved that something really was wrong. "I…" I began, and then I sighed and drooped my head. "I just really miss her," I admitted to Eri. "I'd do anything, _anything_, to find her. And so far, I've been on the path to doing that."

"Hey, Chris," Eri said as she came over to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "I think I understand how you feel. I've… been through hell before, as well as separated from my friends and family. But don't worry; I'm positive I can help you find her. What species is she?"

"Um…" I said again for the umpteenth time that day. It looked like there was no way out of this question. "She's human," I admitted.

"Human?" Eri inquired, completely shocked.

"Yeah," I responded. "Is something wrong with that?"

"Chris, you're heading to the wrong city for humans," she informed me.

"_WHAT_?" I yelled back in surprise. "Ah, God damn it!" I shouted, and I stamped the ground. But then, I started to ponder, "But if New Mobotropolis is human-less, than why would've Knux told me…" I suddenly noticed out of the corner of my eye Eri's right arm; I hadn't noticed before, but now I could see plainly that some sort of mechanical device was attached. "No…" I said to myself.

"What's wrong?" Eri asked me, suddenly very concerned with how I was asking.

"That thing on your arm," I stated. "What is that?"

"This?" Eri asked, holding her arm up. "It's called a chaos dampener."

"A chaos…" it suddenly hit me like a forty-pound sledgehammer:

"_Now listen; you see this thing on my arm?" Erin showed me the mechanical device again._

"_Yes," I answered, staring at it._

"_It's called a chaos dampener," she told me._

"_Oh, okay," I responded._

My mind literally froze from the revelation. I couldn't move or talk; I could barely even think. All I could do is stare at Eri with a dumbfounded expression.

"Chris!" Eri suddenly yelled, and she shook me. "What's wrong? What's going… wait a minute." She looked like she had just come across a revelation as well. "Oh my Lord, it couldn't be." She took off my glasses and looked into my eyes. Not like that would be difficult, with me almost paralyzed. As Eri stared into my eyes, hers suddenly grew with realization and recognition. "…Chris..._ Derreson_?" she asked.

My blue-screen-of-death moment went into a minor recession, and I regained enough control of my body to reach into my pocket, pull out the picture of Erin and I, and study it. I looked from the picture to Eri and back again, and the full realization started to sink in; the person I'd been looking for was in front of me for the past four hours.

"Erin?" I asked quietly.

She smiled without responding, and there was a long awkward silence. I suddenly broke it the moment my mind was fully working again, and I literally jumped onto her and hugged her.

"Ow! Hey!" Erin yelled at me. "You've already done that!"

I suddenly let go of Erin and just stared at her, shaking my head with a weird smile on my face. "Erin," I struggled to speak, "I… you… here… this… ech…" I calmed down slightly and sighed. "I think we both have some explaining to do," I finally sputtered out. "But mostly you."

"Then we had better get more firewood, because it'll take a while," Erin responded as the fire continued to crackle.

* * *

**Notes:** _Well, probably the biggest wall-banger in this chapter is the vehicle Chris uses to get off Angel Island; it's pretty stupid and cheesy, overall. But hey, how else would you guess to try and get off? Still, I really like how in this chapter we finally find who Chris has been looking for... but it just poses more questions than anything. Also, this is the longest chapter yet; almost double the length of the next longest.  
_

_I really hate begging, but **I really want reviews** for this story, so I know people actually care.  
_


	7. Chapter 7: Exposition

_Sorry for the slight delay. Here's chapter 7.  
_

* * *

Chapter 7

_Mobius date: Oct. 21, 3237 – Southern Forest– 9:10 PM_

The spare firewood had been gathered and placed nearby the pit. I was sitting right beside the pit, and across from me was Erin, who was beginning to speak.

"Alright, Chris," she said in a deadly serious voice. "Even Sonic – close of friends as we are – doesn't know this stuff. So don't tell him or anyone else, okay?"

"Okay," I responded, and I listened eagerly as she began.

"The first time I disappeared – a year and a half ago, earth time – it was entirely against my will," Erin explained. "I was walking home on a back road when I suddenly fell into a Warp Ring. It led to a prison camp, and I was immediately captured and forced to work in the mines. The punishments they dealt were… severe. I soon lost all of my will to live, and I was soon waiting to die. But my number wasn't up yet – I was found by Dr. Finitevus, and I was nursed back to my healthy self… sort of."

"Whoa," I interrupted her. Although I had understood most of what she had explained so far, there was one thing that didn't make sense to me; Dr. Finitevus rescuing her. From what I had researched, he was a mad scientist with plans to, you guessed it, take over the world. "It was _Finitevus_ who rescued you?"

"Yes," Erin replied. "At the time, I was literally dying; slowly becoming paralyzed as the damage to my nervous system worsened. Finitevus reasons that this," she held up her arm that wore the chaos dampener, "was my best option to live. The effect was instantaneous; it healed my wounds and I became capable of psychokinetic feats." Her face dropped a little as she added, "It… also made me a living weapon."

However, I didn't catch that last part, as I almost interrupted it; I was too impressed by what she had last said. "Psychokinetic feats?" I inquired enthusiastically. "You mean like telekinesis? Can you show me?"

Erin smiled at me. "Of course," she replied, and she took off the glove on her left, more normal hand and set it on the ground. A couple of seconds later, it twitched, and suddenly rose to life from the ground. It slowly floated over towards me, and it lightly poked me on the nose. I chuckled a little bit, highly impressed by what Erin just did. She brought the glove back to her and put it back on as she continued, "I can also alter peoples' brains… memory erasing, emotional control, things like that."

"Okay, that is just made of pure awesome," I told her. I mean, seriously! It was enough that all this shit was happening, but now Erin was psychic? Still, I wanted to ask her more. "But anyways, why did Finitevus take you in the first place?" I asked. "What did he want with you?"

"Finitevus reasoned that females are more logical and passive than males," she explained. "He wanted to use me as a weapon. I can kill someone with a thought, Chris. Finitevus wanted to exploit that to destroy the world, after which he would count on me to help him rebuild and rule it."

I thought that the situation was too serious to insert a "take over the world" joke into it, and even then, I was too engaged in what Erin was telling me. I mean, wow. Every single thing she was telling me just made me more surprised, impressed, and concerned all at once. She called herself a living weapon, for Christ's sake! And all because one insane scientist wanted to use her to, you guessed it, take over the world. "But that didn't happen," I finally responded, as I was still pretty shocked from this whole expositional onslaught. "The world wasn't destroyed, and none of what he planned happened." I suddenly tensed up a little as I added, "Did it?"

Erin shook her head, thankfully. "He realized the whole thing was outside my interests and deemed the scheme a failure, finally releasing me," she told me. "He's actually a nice guy, just a little… out-of-gear. Mention me and he gets all polite and friendly. He kind of sees me as his greatest creation." As she finished her sentence, she casually looked over at the fire and stared into it.

After spending a couple of moments letting the entire thing set in, I shook my head again. "You know, after every crazy thing that has happened in the last few days, you'd think I'd be getting used to it," I suddenly spoke. "But I'm not. Everything that has happened has been mind-fuck worthy, but just as I think I _am_ getting used to it, something else comes along that completely tops it. It's just…" I paused for a second, trying to come up with the best way to describe it. Failing that, I just said, "It's just totally unbelievable."

"It is kind of crazy at first," Erin responded, giving a weak smile. "Excuse for a second," she added, and she stood up and walked over to the wood pile.

I sat back and stared at the fire, just thinking. As I did so, I remembered what Knuckles had told me back on Angel Island:

"_I met her years ago, when I was a kid," Knuckles said. "She's a very nice girl."_

"Erin," I said as she came back carrying a log, "when I was on Angel Island, I… I lodged with Knuckles for a few days. He was the one who told me that you were in the New Mobotropolis area, and that he met you when he was just a little kid."

"Yeah, that's right," she replied, dumping the log in the fire and checking it. "How is my nephew, anyway? The last I heard, he and Julie-Su were fighting."

"I don't know," I said as I shook my head. "I didn't think it was right to ask about his personal…" I paused, did a double-take, and said, "Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! …Whoa!" After another short pause, I continued, "Your _nephew_? Erin, what the fuck are you talking about?"

Erin sighed as she sat back down. "How do I explain this?" she said. "I was a baby when Knuckles' father, Locke, was five. We… we were cousins. Locke teleported me to Earth in order to save my life." She suddenly looked very depressed. "Locke passed on a little while ago. Knux wants me to arrange the funeral, once the police release his remains."

I just sat there, my jaw dropping to the ground. I now remembered that Knuckles' father's name was Locke; that's who was in that picture I saw back at Knux's cabin. It was sad that he had died, but I was more concerned with what Erin had said before that. "But if you were Locke's cousin," I stated, "then that means…"

Erin nodded. "I was born on Mobius as an echidna," she finished for me. "Eri-Le Parks is my birth name. In fact, I was born to the House of Edmund; Knux and I share the title of Guardian because of it. When Heather found me on Earth, I was a baby echidna swaddled in Locke's lab coat."

_Just great_, I thought to myself. _Now she's just got me wondering MORE questions!_ I knew that Heather was her mother; or rather… foster mother, but everything else… _This whole thing is starting to sound more like a bad fanfic_, I thought. "But… how did you even become human in the first place, if that's true?" I asked, getting more and more agitated. "For that matter, how did you even learn all of this?"

Erin sighed. "I only have basic knowledge on that," she replied. "I've been researching my past ever since Finitevus released me. Apparently, I adopted into a human form within a year after being sent to Earth."

I shook my head; again. "Like I said before, mind-fuck central," I said.

"I didn't understand it back then, either," Erin agreed, and she relaxed her body a little bit. "Okay, your turn," she said.

"What?" I responded, as I was only half-listening.

"Explain your side of the story," Erin explained. "How – and why – did you come here?"

After trying to remember everything for a couple of seconds, I answered with, "I came here because I was looking for you. I called your house to talk a couple of weeks ago, and instead I got your… Heather telling me that you had vanished again. So I started looking."

Erin's expression when I explained myself was odd, like she didn't know whether to be flattered, disappointed, or regretful. Eventually, she spoke, "Well, that's nice of you Chris, but…"

"I know, I know," I interrupted. "You're doing fine on your own and everything. I can see that by what you've told me." In reality, I was still concerned; not about Erin, but about what she did…

Erin seemed to be more disgruntled, now. "And that still doesn't answer _how_ you got on Mobius," she told me.

"Oh," I said, grimacing. "Um, I'm not entirely sure myself. Someone told me that they saw you step into an empty pipe, so I went in as well. There was this… wormhole thingy there." Her face looked shocked as I said this, but I barely noticed. "My curiosity got the better of me, I jumped through, and the next thing I know I'm a fox and stuck on Angel Island…"

"A Warp Ring!" Erin yelled, apparently at the mention of the wormhole. "But how…"

"Warp Ring?" I asked. "So that's what it's called…"

"Chris, this is weird," Erin told me. "I know that I didn't leave my own behind, and even if I had, it would've closed up the moment I went through."

Now _I_ was even _more_ confused! "What?" I asked. "The one I went through never closed up! It just hung open in the air, and I waited there for twenty minutes! In fact, the only reason I didn't try going back through was because I couldn't reach it."

Erin didn't seem like she knew _anything_ anymore. "I have never heard of that happening with a Warp Ring before," she explained.

"Wow," I said. "That _is_ odd."

Both of us were silent for a couple of moments. Eventually, Erin said, "So, is that it?"

"Pretty much," I told her. "I eventually met Knuckles, like I told you, and stayed with him for a while, and that was pretty much it."

"Alright," Erin responded. "Simpler than I was expecting, but thank you for elaborating." She suddenly let out a huge yawn. "Ugh, I'm exhausted," she said. "I think it's time to turn in."

"I agree," I said, noticing how sleepy I was getting and yawning as well. I took off my hoodie and sunglasses, and began to unzip my sleeping bag. Before I got into it, I asked, "Um, Eri?"

"Yeah, what is it?" she responded while unrolling her own sleeping bag.

"I know it's not your real name, per se, but you don't mind that I still call you Erin, right?" I inquired.

Erin smiled. "Not at all," she responded.

"'Kay," I said. "Goodnight." With that I got into my sleeping bag.

"'Night, Chris," Erin replied, and she got into her own. I know that she fell asleep before I did, because I was still thinking; Erin had explained a great deal to me, and even though I still didn't think it made sense that Mobius existed in the first place, at least I was starting to accept everything. But as I began to drift off to sleep, one thought still provoked in my mind:

_Erin_, I thought as my mind shut down, _why did you go back?_

* * *

**Author's Note:** _Exposition, exposition, brush it out ASAP... but seriously, this was literally exposition chapter. Pretty much everything's been revealed to Chris by Erin... or Eri-Le... but he's still pretty shaken by everything. What's next in store for him?_

_**Critiques**_!


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